A marine themed bench, designed by a pupil from Ullapool High School pupil, has been installed in a newly revamped open space.

Second year pupils from school session 2009-10 were asked to design new seating for Am Pollan Park in Ullapool as part of their art and design course work.

Highland Council staff worked with the school to run a competition where the winning design would be manufactured and installed as part of a wider project to upgrade the park.

The park improvements were identified by Lochbroom Community Council as a priority project in the Planning and Development Service capital programme for environmental improvements. The proposals were also supported by the public that attended a community consultation event that took place in September 2009.

Highland Council’s Project Officer Sonia Wayman said: “We heard about the art and design project that the school were working on for the park at the consultation event. We were keen to involve the school in the plans for the park and the pupils produced some exceptionally creative results.”

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The winning design, by Arran MacDonald, takes it’s inspiration from the coastal location by using undulating curves to suggest the movement of the sea, and incorporates a stylised shoal of fish. The design has been adapted for manufacture but still closely represents Arran’s original sketch for the bench.

A sum of £44,000 was allocated in the Council’s Planning and Development programme towards implementing the Am Pollan project which was successful in attracting an additional £36,000 from the Scottish Government and European Community Leader 2007-2013 programme.

Am Pollan has been the focus of improvements carried out by the Lochbroom Community Council in recent years and staff from the Planning and Development Service worked closely with community representatives in developing proposals for the park. The project, which was designed in house by the Council’s Project Design Unit, includes a new stone wall to the boundary with the road, a promenade style path with railings, up-graded steps, as well as new entrance gates and seating.

Chair of Lochbroom Community Council Kenneth Morrison said: “The Community Council initiated the improvements to Am Pollan with the construction of an interpretive panel that tells the story of the ship, the Hector, which set sail from the shores of Lochbroom to cross the Atlantic to Pictou in Nova Scotia in 1773. The bespoke school bench, along with the landscape improvements, have complimented the work that has been carried out by the Community Council, and has made a significant contribution towards upgrading this important community space.”

(GK/KMcA)